62 MUSKIT. BEARD GRASS. 



Glumes two, keeled, the upper layer shorter than the 

 flowers. Stamens three, anthers orange or red. Rachis 

 extending beyond the spikelets. 



MUSKIT, MESQUIT, or MEZQUITE GRASS (Bouteloua 

 oligostachya), grows from six to twelve inches high, 

 leaves narrow, spikes one to five ; glumes and lower 

 fertile palea slightly hairy, triple awned. Westward, 

 Iowa and Minnesota. 



BRISTLY MUSKIT (Bouteloua hirsuta) grows in tufts 

 from eight to twenty inches high ; leaves flat, lance- 

 like, hairy ; lower glume rough, with stiff hairs from 

 dark warty glands ; lower palea downy. 



HAIRY MUSKIT (Bouteloua curtipendula) grows in 

 tufts from perennial roots, one to three feet high ; 

 sheaths often hairy, leaves narrow, spikes thirty to 

 sixty in number, flowers rough; the sterile are reduced 

 to a single small awn, or to three awns shorter than the 

 fertile flower. 



Muskit or Mesquit grass is cultivated to considerable 

 extent in some parts of the South, as in Louisiana, and 

 has become a favorite grass in many sections. Very 

 satisfactory experiments with it have also been made 

 in Virginia. 



19. GYMNOPOGON. Beard Grass. 



Spikelets one-flowered, perfect, with a rudiment of 

 a second ; glumes awl-shaped, keeled, nearly equal ; 

 stamens three ; stigmas purple, pencil-shaped ; leaves 

 short, flat, and thick. 



NAKED BEARD GRASS (Gymnopogon racemosus) grows 

 in clusters, wiry, leafy, spikes flower-bearing to the 

 base ; glumes pointed about half the length of the awn 

 of the fertile flower. Common on the pine barrens of 

 New Jersey, and at the South. 



